Yesterday (Saturday, May 2), I left Peter to toil away at his tasks and went to the London Museum Docklands, which has exhibits covering more than 400 years of port history on the River Thames, starting briefly with Roman times and continuing to the present. The museum is housed in a preserved Georgian warehouse built in 1802 as part of the West India Docks called No. 1 Warehouse, where sugar, rum and tea were stored.
The first part of the museum I visited with about the warehouse itself. Much of the original flooring is intact as are the windows with their cast-iron grills indicating the tight security maintained on the valuable goods. Displayed in the first gallery are a multitude of a wooden and metal objects used for loading, weighing and storing goods brought in from ships. These are accompanied by enlarged photos and archival films.
The next gallery looks at the expansion of trade from 1600 to 1800, when the number of boats using London's ports rose from 3,000 to 14,600. Illustrations and paintings from the period show the Thames with hundreds of mast over the water. In some cases, ships had to wait over a month to unload cargo because there simply were not enough wharves, and this led to spoiling of goods and loss by theft. These factors led to the private development by the West India Company of its enclosed dock system and warehouse complex on the Isle of Dogs.
Images, signage and objects provide insight into the development of London as the largest port in the world during the 19th century based on the importation of sugar, tobacco and other agricultural goods, particularly from the Caribbean, and the trade in enslaved Africans. Abolition of the slave trade in 1807 and the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 are covered as well as the equally cruel and demeaning indenturing of former enslaved people and the move to bring poor people from other places such as India to continue human exploitation for the profit of the wealthy, imperialistic British.
The prosperity of the British Empire meant commerce boomed as did construction. In addition to the West India Docks, the London Docks and the East India Docks were completed between 1802 and 1806. The medieval London Bridge, with its 19 gothic arches that impeded movement and increased freezing, was replaced in 1831 with a Victorian bridge that had five arches, which allowed for better river and tidal flows. Meanwhile, Marc Isambard Brunel and his son designed and constructed the Thames Tunnel, the world's first tunnel under a navigable waterway, which is still in use today. All this progress was controversial, particularly because the new docks displaced tens of thousands of people, creating social unrest.
All the shipping brought in sailors from around the world, and the towns of Wapping, Bermondsey, Rotherhithe, Deptford and Greenwich catered to them with boarding houses, pubs, pawnbrokers and prostitutes. Included in the attractions of these towns were wild animal shops, because the seamen brought exotic animals with them from distant lands.
Between 1840 and 1875, clipper ships were carrying tea from China, wood from Australia and goods from other parts of the world. By the fourth quarter of the 19th century, wooden ships were becoming less common, replaced by iron vessels. Steam engines supplemented and then mostly replaced sail by the beginning of the 20th century. Naval engineering, shipbuilding, and engine manufacturing developed quickly and brought more jobs and money to London. Also, cargos increased in size and became more diverse. The warehouses were full of spices, sugar, grain, meat, fruit, coffee, tea, alcohol, furs, leather, timber, wool, silk and other items, mostly from the British empire. The warehouses maintained sample collections, some of which were on display, for identification and quality control.
Until steam boats allowed for more regular schedules for shipping, the irregularity of the volume of work on the docks meant that few men were permanent employees; most were hired as needed when ships came in or were being loaded with exports. Most dockworkers and their families lived in poverty and with an unreliable source of income. The frustration finally resulted in the successful 1889 dockers' strike, which brought everything to a halt at the port. The result was an increase in pay of half a shilling an hour (about 2 pounds today).
Another section of the museum addressed London during WWII, with film clips, photos, paintings and items providing information about the Blitz in 1940; the evacuation of Dunkirk; the conversion of warehouses and factories to the manufacturing of aircraft parts and warships; the PLUTO (Pipe Lines Under the Ocean) project that laid flexible, armored pipelines across the English Channel to supply fuel to Allied Forces in France; and the V1 and V2 rockets that the Germans dropped in England toward the end of the war.
Of course, much of the Docklands was destroyed by enemy bombs. Some was rebuilt shortly after the war, but much remained damaged and derelict. The advent of large container ships meant commercial traffic shifted to new docks outside of London downstream on the Thames. In the 1980s, the London Docklands Development Corporation began the regeneration of the area, mostly opposed by local residents. After financial setbacks and roadblocks for the developers and the integration of community voices into the planning process, the area was eventually transformed, with Canary Wharf becoming a financial center and a light railway to the city constructed as well as a small airport, shopping centers, housing and public spaces. The former docks and the communities they supported have now become mostly gentrified East London.
I was so involved in learning so much at the London Museum Docklands that I took no photos during the five hours I was there.
At 4 p.m., I traveled back to our boat, and Peter and I left around 5 p.m. to meet Matthew, who was coming from the opposite direction, in front of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, where we were attending a play in the evening. Pre-show, we enjoyed dinner at the nearby Pulse Bar, where I was delighted to have two small vegetarian appetizer plates that the chef obviously put time into creating and presenting. They were delicious, as were Matthew's steak and Peter's (enormous) fish and chips. We arrived for the 7:30 show at 7:00 and took our seats in the front row of the upper gallery, enjoying the "auditions" being held on stage as members of the audience were selected to dance or read famous Shakespeare lines.
 |
| Before the play activities |
 |
| Matthew and Peter in the upper gallery |
A Midsummer Night's Dream, which we have seen at other venues in the past, was presented with a blossom-festooned and colorful set and eclectic costumes blending modern styles with period clothing and whimsical creations for the fairies. The costumes of Bottom as a donkey and Puck were particularly spectacular. Adding a bit of singing and audience participation here and there, the actors presented the comedy as scripted. Unfortunately, in the middle of Act 3, Scene 2, there was a thump on the gallery above the stage where musicians played. We noticed Puck and Oberon there and thought the unexpected noise was part of the play, and the actors on stage continued without interruption. Shortly, more people appeared in the gallery and we saw CPR was started on a person lying on the floor. The play was quickly cancelled and everyone was asked to leave the theatre, which we all did solemnly, hoping that the person who collapsed would recover.
 |
| Stage set for A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Globe |
It was a relatively warm evening, so, after saying goodbye to Matthew on the north of the Millennium Bridge, Peter and I walked to St. Paul's Cathedral, through some old narrow streets in the City of London, back across the Southwark Bridge and along the south side of the Thames to Tower Bridge, which we crossed to return to St. Katherine Docks.
 |
| St. Paul's from the Millennium Bridge |
 |
| Facade of St. Paul's with a statue of Queen Anne, who was the monarch when it was completed |
Today was a work day for me and Peter. He has been working on depth sounders and other things, becoming frustrated with bad design and engineering, and I did laundry, tidied up the boat, ordered food online for provisioning before going to Waitrose nearby for groceries and preparing for Liz to arrive as our dinner guest for this evening. The three of us had a pleasant time eating and conversing, although my cooking will never reach the quality of Liz's.
Tomorrow we see her again for a visit to the Maritime Museum with other friends and a late lunch at a pub in Greenwich.
